"Like a shepherd He will tend His flock. In His arm He will gather the lambs; And carry them in His bosom" Isaiah 40:11 I find it completely awesome that in this world, I am totally someones. Someone to love me, cherish me, discipline me (in love), someone who will never, ever, ever, leave me. Someone who calls me His very own.

Friday, April 15, 2016

"I Smile" - 04/15/15 - Psalm 7, 27, 31, 34, 52

"I trusted in the generous Mercy of God then and now.

I thank You always that You went into action.

And I'll stay right here,

Your good name my hope,

in company with Your faithful friends." (52:8-9)

Last evening we stood on the back deck, dusk bringing in the shadows to the woods below and around us. My sisters were gathered to dig into His Word through our weekly Bible Study. We have just started a new study, "The Missing Commandment - Love Yourself", How loving yourself the way God does can bring healing and freedom to your life. With the study we have added a new element, worship in singing before the book. There was such a haunting beauty in the stillness of the woods as the sound of Kathy's flute wove through the air with our voices. I found my heart catching in the profoundness of His Grace and Mercy. Knowing He was surrounding us in our worship of Him. Knowing He was delighting in us more than we delight in Him, as I stood "in company with my faithful friends", my sisters in Him.I stood looking through the trees and thought about how He has transformed my life. my heart. Bringing me to this place where all I want to do is worship Him through all of my actions. my words. my thoughts. my all.

I smile, realizing the times are fewer when I do forget where He has brought me through His "generous Mercy". Those times when I will physically cringe. Those moments when my path comes across someone from my past and I pick up and again dress myself in the garment of "shame".

I smile for there are far fewer moments when I allow "shame" to cover up the transformation ABBA has taken and clothed me in. Much like a ratty, dirty, old bathrobe.

I smile for He has taken my mind from being focused on the mistakes I made, rather than on His face. Those times when I focus more at the places of sin I wallowed in, the missed opportunities when I could have been a Vessel for Him and being instead a vessel for and of sin.

I smile for He has taught me to have less of focusing on me, and more on my Savior.

My Savior.
who was hung on the cross
and took upon Himself

the
all
of my
sins.

the all of
my
shame.

He did this so I could be ABBA's. So I could live my life intimately "in" His world.
Eternally.
My Savior has taken that old bathrobe and cast it aside.

I smile, knowing there are less moments of forgetting I have vowed to "stay right here, Your good name my hope, in company with Your faithful friends". I love knowing there are less and less situations where I go back digging through the decay of garbage, retrieving the bathrobe of sin, and putting it on. Picking up "doubt" and believing the words of lies. Believing I do not belong with His faithful company.

I smile, hearing when my ABBA begins to speak and I believe. Softly I hear His Voice, coming from within my heart where I have buried His Words.

I am cleansed from "shame", from "sin". I am covered in His Blood.

I am His. I am His Beloved.

He has gently taken my face into His Hands, leading my eyes into His, where I drink in His Truth. He surrounds me with those who are "in" Him, who see me in love. Who see me as His. Who have given me the gift of mercy, as they have been given mercy. He has placed me "in company with His faithful friends".

And in those moments when needed, He again removes the bathrobe of shame, casting it aside, revealing me still clothed in His Truth. He leads me back to my place, right there in the company of Him.

"His good name is my hope".

"Now I won't denyThe worst you could say about meBut I'm not defined by mistakes that I've made... Because God says of me

I am not who I wasI'm being remadeI am newI am chosen and holy and I'm dearly lovedI am newWho I thought I wasAnd who I thought I had to beI had to give them both upCause neither were willingTo ever believeI am not who I wasI'm being remadeI am newI am chosen and holy and I'm dearly lovedI am newI am newToo long have I lived in the shadow of shameBelieving that there was no way I could changeBut the one who is making everything newDoesn't see me the way that I doHe doesn't see me the way that I do"I am not who I wasI'm being remadeI am newI am chosen and holy and I'm dearly lovedI am newI am newI am not who I wasI'm being remadeI am newDead to the old man, I'm coming aliveI am newI am newForgiven, belovedHidden in ChristMade in the image of the Giver of LifeRighteous and holy, reborn and remadeAccepted and worthyThis is our new nameThis is who we are now..."(Jason Gray)

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Jennifer Dukes Lee

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About Me

My passion is to lead people to be into His Word every day. It is the essential key to being in an "intimate relationship" with Him, and give us the tools needed to get through this life! He led me to begin a FB group, "Blog Through the Word" and each day I post a set of verses as we read through His Word in a year. Then (I hope!) we each blog about how God spoke to us through them. This not only brings an awareness to a verse we may just "skim" over, but when He gives someone the same verse that is really cool.
Even though we don't always blog daily, I am praying that we are all in His Word each and every day. If you are on Facebook please let me count you in!
May He lead you to join us on this journey.